Table 3.

BMI as a Mediator of the Associations Between Educational Attainment and Plasma Levels of Inflammatory Biomarkers

	College degree (vs. Less than college degree) → BMI → Inflammation					Post-graduate degree (vs. Less than college degree) → BMI → Inflammation
Outcomes	Indirect Effect a1b path (BS SE)a [CI]b	a1 path B (SE) p value	c’1 path B (SE) p value	c1 path B (SE) p value	b path B (SE) p value	Indirect Effect a2b path (BS SE)a [CI]b	a2 path B (SE) p value	c’2 path B (SE) p value	c2 path B (SE) p value
IL-6	−0.18 (.07) [−0.32, −0.05]	−2.98 (0.96) 0.002	0.06 (0.13) 0.62	−0.11 (0.14) 0.42	0.06 (0.01) <0.00001	−0.23 (0.07) [−0.38, −0.09]	−3.84 (1.02) <0.0002	−0.04 (0.14) 0.76	−0.27 (0.15) 0.07
CRP	−0.37 (0.13) [−0.62, −0.11]		0.02 (0.22) 0.93	−0.35 (0.24) 0.15	0.12 (0.02) <0.00001	−0.47 (0.14) [−0.76, −0.21]		−0.31 (0.23) 0.18	−0.78 (0.26) 0.003
TNF-α	−0.03 (0.02) [−0.08, 0.004]		−0.05 (0.07) 0.48	−0.08 (0.07) 0.25	0.01 (0.01) 0.06	−0.04 (0.03) [−0.10, 0.01]		−0.10 (0.08) 0.23	−0.14 (0.08) 0.08
sTNF-RII	−0.04 (0.02) [−0.09, −0.01]		−0.12 (0.05) 0.03	−0.16 (0.05) 0.004	0.01 (0.004) 0.0008	−0.05 (0.02) [−0.10, −0.02]		−0.05 (0.06) 0.37	−0.11 (0.06) 0.07

^aBootstrap estimate of the standard error

^b95% Confidence Bootstrap interval

Note. All analyses control for race/ethnicity, age, smoking status, breast cancer stage at diagnosis, and type of surgery at all paths.

Note. Significant indirect effects are bolded.